


Ghosts of Our Past

by carlee_mac6296



Series: Haunted [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Abusive Neil Hargrove, F/M, Ghosts, M/M, Neil Hargrove's A+ Parenting, Psychic Abilities, Sad
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-31
Updated: 2019-03-31
Packaged: 2019-12-27 04:26:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,592
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18296810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/carlee_mac6296/pseuds/carlee_mac6296
Summary: [part 1/2]Steve Harrington was the most successful medium in the country, paid big money to help people find peace with their lost loved ones he lived a pretty busy life. He was reasonable with his money, a few small houses spread throughout the country to make meeting people easier. It was a Wednesday when he got the call from a woman, Nancy, who said her and her husband, Jonathan, and been having some haunting issues in their new home for about four months. The location of their home? Hawkins, Indiana.





	Ghosts of Our Past

He was the most successful medium in the country, paid big money to help people find peace with their lost loved ones he lived a pretty busy life. He was reasonable with his money, a few small houses spread throughout the country to make meeting people easier. It was a Wednesday when he got the call from a woman, Nancy, who said her and her husband, Jonathan, and been having some haunting issues in their new home for about four months. The location of their home? Hawkins, Indiana.

Of course, when she said that it clicked with Steve that he knew these people, this was his ex-girlfriend from high school and Jonathan Byers. The arrangement was made for the following week to give Steve enough time to get to Hawkins and settle in for the stay. Steve had grown up in Hawkins, Indiana and was given his parent’s old house when he turned twenty and they hightailed it off to Europe. 

The Byers’ residence wasn’t too far out from Steve house so he arranged for them to meet at a coffee shop before they would all travel to the house together. When they made it to the coffee shop Steve was pleasantly surprised to see how Nancy and Jonathan had changed over the last eleven years, Nancy was still the small girl he had dated in high school but her hair was shorter and she looked more grown up altogether. Jonathan didn’t look haunted by everything that walked by him, either, which was a giant improvement from high school. 

They expressed to Steve that the spirit seemed to know how to rile them up despite only being in the house for a few months, giving Steve the impression that the spirit knew them in some way. “The ghost hasn’t given any clue to their identity that you’ve noticed?” Steve asked the couple and they shared a look before shaking their head.

“Not unless it was incredibly subtle we haven’t noticed anything,” Nancy said. “You don’t think the ghost knew us before they died, do you?” 

Steve shrugged, “At this point, anything is possible.”

They left the coffee shop not long afterward and Steve followed Nancy and Jonathan back to their house. Steve observed the house and even though it had been eleven years since he stepped foot in Hawkins and the other surrounding houses looked the same, Steve thought he knew exactly who they were dealing with. 

They all walked to the door together and Steve was hit with the overwhelming despair that radiated from the house. He felt as if he were suffocating on it and it was surprising that Nancy and Jonathan couldn’t feel it without the sight. 

“Oh, my word, this poor soul.”  

Nancy and Jonathan shared a concerned look as Jonathan unlocked the door and pushed it open.  **_You’re not welcome here, Harrington. Go home!_ ** The voice was cold and sent goosebumps up Steve’s arms but the spirit remained stubbornly unseen. That statement though, revealed that whoever they were dealing with knew him and the two people occupying the home. 

“Where does most of the paranormal activity take place?” Steve asked, ignoring the spirit as he stepped inside. He felt hands on his shoulders, trying to push him back out the door but there was no one behind him and Steve glared at the air in determination. He refused to leave this hurting soul.

Nancy and Jonathan led him to a room near the back of the house that held two desks with laptops upon them. “We use it as an office. Jonathan still does photography and I run a few online businesses. The ghost likes to shuffle around papers and change the websites we’re on at times.” Steve observed the room with a solemn look, he placed his hand on the wall and closed his eyes.  _ A bed in the corner. Weights laying on the ground. _ Steve pulled his hand away and turned back to Nancy and Jonathan. 

“The memories in this room is strong, it was their bedroom. The memories left a mark that I was able to see,” Steve explained to them. “Whoever we’re dealing with knows us and died far too young.”

Nancy put her hand over her mouth as tears filled her eyes, “How awful.”

**_I don’t want her pity._ ** Steve turned towards the voice, still finding nothing but air.  **_You won’t see me until you say my name, names give power to beings, Harrington._ ** Steve’s name was spit like venom, the distaste evident in his voice. Yes, the spirit was a guy, Steve had concluded that from the appearance of the room and the fact that in high school only the guys thought to call him “Harrington”. 

“Do you guys have any old yearbooks? The spirit more than likely would have removed any evidence of them in the book and it might narrow down our search.” Nancy and Jonathan pondered for a moment before Jonathan nodded.

“I should still have our senior yearbook. Let me go find that.” He left the room and Steve and Nancy listened as things were moved around and shuffled to different places as Jonathan looked. “Found it!” he called back as they heard his footsteps approach again.

He went to hand it to Steve when some unseen force pushed the book straight to the floor. All of them looked at it as it laid there, unaware if the spirit had any intention of harming them with it.  **_I hate that book!_ ** The distaste was obvious and the spirit was obviously angered by the presence of something that could reveal who he was. The room shook minutely and Steve reached out for the wall again, hoping to draw on a calmer memory to ease the ill spirit. 

_ Blood stained the mirror and bed sheets…  _

_ Bruises littered a muscled torso…  _

_ A deserted basketball lay forgotten in the corner as a girl screamed from the background… _

He knew that scream… 

➖●∘●➖

When Steve came to, Nancy was holding a rag against his face and Jonathan stood slightly behind her with a cup of water. When Nancy realized that Steve had awoken she pulled the rag from his face which was sporting a fair amount of red on it that Steve could only assume to be blood. “Steve! Are you okay?” she questioned in a hesitant voice. He nodded slowly, his mind processing the words with more effort than they probably should. Nancy must have seen the look on his face as she looked back down at the bloodied rag in her hand, “You collapsed and got a nosebleed.” 

Jonathan came up to Steve and handed him the water, he drank all of it in practically one gulp. His head cleared as the minutes passed and he looked slowly back and forth between the two in front of him. “Which one of your brothers would be more likely to pick up?” 

They wound up calling Will Byers, seeing as Mike was possibly helping Jane with some school work. She had been the same age as them but had to repeat a year of high school and that put her a year behind in college. Steve had honestly been closer to the younger siblings of these people and their friends because he used to babysit them when Jonathan and Nancy were busy, which was a lot.

“Jonathan, what’s wrong?” Will’s worried voice filled his ear as he answered on the second ring.

“Hey, Will! It’s Steve Harrington, I’m here with your brother and Nancy to help them with their little spirit problem.”

“Oh yeah, I’d heard about that. It’s been ages, Steve! Any particular reason as to why you called me?” 

“I figured you’d probably pick up before Mike did and I needed to ask you this.” Steve heard Will mutter, ‘makes sense’ before he continued to listen to what Steve was saying. “I was wondering if you kept in touch with any of the old gang?” 

Nancy and Jonathan shared a confused look with each other that Steve ignored in favor of listening to Will’s response. “Um, yeah for sure. Anyone, in particular, you were hoping to get in touch with?” 

“Max.” The power in the room flickered and Steve knew he was close, he just had to be sure. 

“Okay, let me call her and I’ll give her this number to call. Sound good?” Will asked.

“That sounds amazing. You’re the best, Will.” The call ended and Steve handed Jonathan his phone back with a triumphant smirk on his face. 

“We’re recruiting Maxine Mayfield into this?” Nancy asked and Steve turned to her with a wide grin. 

“Yes, yes, we are.”

They got the call from the unsaved number about fifteen minutes later and Jonathan handed the phone to Steve to answer. “Hello?” Max’s voice filled his ear this time and Steve smiled at the fact that it was still sweet with a hard edge to it.

“Hey, Max! It’s Steve Harrington. I was wondering how long it would take you to get to Hawkins, Indiana?” Steve was hoping it was soon.

“Well, Harrington, you’re in luck! Lucas and I are actually in town right now visiting his family. Why do you ask?” Her voice was confident yet hesitant as if she didn’t want Steve to answer.

“Would you and Lucas be willing to drop by your old childhood residence?” Steve heard her voice catch on the other end of the line. 

“Steve… Steve, please don’t say this is about—” 

“I think it might be but I need you here to confirm something.” Steve could hear the guilt in her voice and was almost positive she was tearing up or crying on the other end. “Max, you don’t have to—”

“We’ll be there in half an hour.” The line went dead after that statement.

Steve handed Jonathan his phone back and they went to make themselves comfortable in the living room. Twenty-eight minutes later a car pulled up into the driveway, Max and Lucas stepped out of the car. Max took a moment to look up at the house, then with a fierce determination made her way towards the front door.

Steve went to greet her at the door but before he could open it the spirit did. The fact that Max had come to this house practically confirmed what Steve knew to be true but he was determined to get all the information he could before making the final move and saying the name. Max had once called this place home.  **_This place was never home. Not to me, not to her._ ** Steve turned, still not expecting to see anything but letting the spirit know Steve was listening, he figured that didn’t happen much anymore for them. 

Steve greeted the two people he had once watched as kids with a warm smile and a hello as he looked between them. “Thank you for coming back here, Max. I know this must be hard for you but I need you to answer one question for me,” Steve led Max back to the office as nancy and Jonathan went to sit in the living room with Lucas and await their return. “Was this his room?” Steve’s voice caught on his but he didn’t think Max noticed or she didn’t mention it. She nodded as a few stray tears raced down her cheeks and goosebumps took their place as if the spirit were trying to wipe her tears away. “Okay, let’s go back to the others.”

Steve led Max back to the living room and assessed each of the people sitting on the couches in front of him. “I don’t know exactly what will happen when I say his name but I want you all to know that with me here you will be safe. Our spirit is not hostile if I fall into a trance or become unconscious while speaking to him do not try to wake me,” Steve told them. “Do you understand?” They nodded. “Good.”

Steve turned to face the opposite direction of the others, putting himself in front of them if necessary. He braced his hands in front of them as his purple aura crept out from his palms, another thing only people with the sight was able to see in its entirety. He took a deep breath and willed the spirit not to show when he called this name although he knew they would.

“ _ Billy Hargrove _ .” All it took was that whisper of a name and there he was, piercing blue eyes as bright as they were in high school and his hair… his hair was short, no longer the mullet he once adorned. He was only a hairsbreadth from Steve and he nearly choked at the proximity. 

**_Hello, Harrington._ ** Billy’s voice was like he remembered, the exact tone he used to tell Steve to plant his feet on the court with.  **_You took your sweet time saying my name._ ** He sounded amused and aggravated, probably because it had been evident Steve knew who he was for the past hour and wouldn’t say his name. 

“I had to be absolutely sure it was you. Max said the office was your bedroom, is that where it happened?” Steve looked back, expecting to see the others watching him carefully but found no one there which meant he was in some sort of limbo and was probably unconscious. Unknown to Steve the lights flickered back in the real world as the others had grabbed Steve when he collapsed and placed him on the couch. Max whimpered as she grabbed Lucas’ hand and Steve flinched in his unconscious state. 

**_You could ask Max. She was there._ ** Steve shook his head with a small smile. “You can tell me, Billy. I may need Max to speak to the chief but I need to hear what happened from you.” Billy snarled at him and clenched his fists. 

**_Ask her! She could have said something eleven years ago but here I am, suck in this hell and haunted by memories! Do you want the story? Get it somewhere else. 0816._ ** Steve woke up with a gasp. 

“Steve! Are you okay? What happened?” Everyone started talking over each other trying to figure out what had happened. 

“I’m fine. I just… need a minute,” he mumbled as he rubbed his temples, a headache shooting through his nerves at the motion.

“Was… was it Billy?” Max’s voice was soft, clearly trying to keep too much emotion out of her voice. Steve looked over at her and spotted Billy lounging in the chair behind them in the process. 

“Yeah, Max. It was Billy.” Steve looked back to Max, letting his gaze drift over the others as he went. “Max, I’m going to have to ask you some questions that your brother refuses to answer. Do you think you could do that for me?” 

Max squirmed in her spot for a moment, “I’m not sure…”

**_You better choose your next words carefully, brat._ ** Steve shot a glare over at Billy who, even in death, couldn’t keep his hands off the cigarettes. Billy glared right back.  **_Chop, chop, pretty boy, the sooner she starts the more I might cooperate._ **

“Max, please.” Steve really didn’t want to argue with anyone right now, the faster Max talked the more Billy talked, and the faster they could get Neil off the streets for good. God knows he’s gotten away with murder for long enough.

She took a shuddering breath and nodded. “Okay, where do you want me to start?” 

“August 16th.” 

[to be continued]


End file.
